New EMBO Members Review
- The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 2663 - 2673
- doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601172
Published online: 8 June 2006
Subject Categories:
The physiology of membrane transport and endomembrane-based signalling
Michele Sallese, Teodoro Pulvirenti and Alberto Luini
- Laboratory of Membrane Traffic, Department of Cell Biology and Oncology, Consorzio Mario Negri Sud, Santa Maria Imbaro, Chieti, Italy
Correspondence to:
Alberto Luini, Laboratory of Membrane Traffic, Department of Cell Biology and Oncology, Consorzio Mario, Negri Sud, Santa Maria Imbaro, Chieti 66030, Italy. Tel.: +39 0872 570355; Fax: +39 0872 570412; E-mail: luini@dcbo.negrisud.it
Received 9 January 2006; Accepted 5 May 2006
Abstract
Some of the important open questions concerning the physiology of the secretory pathway relate to its homeostasis. Secretion involves a number of separate compartments for which their transport activities should be precisely cross-coordinated to avoid gross imbalances in the trafficking system. Moreover, the membrane fluxes across these compartments should be able to adapt to environmental 'requests' and to respond to extracellular signals. How is this regulation effected? Here, we consider evidence that endomembrane-based signalling cascades that are similar in organization to those used at the plasma membrane coordinate membrane traffic. If this is the case, this would also represent a model for a more general inter-organelle signalling network for functionally interconnecting different intracellular activities, a necessity for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and to express harmonic global cellular responses.
Keywords:
- Golgi,
- membrane transport,
- signalling
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